On dismissals

CBC reports that while Chuck Strahl may be musing about allowing farmers the courtesy of a vote over the future of the Wheat Board, he appears set on undermining the Board in other ways in the meantime - now by throwing the Board's CEO to the curb:

Federal Agriculture Minister Chuck Strahl has indicated his intentions to fire Canadian Wheat Board president and CEO Adrian Measner within weeks.

Measner has been a critic of the federal government's plan to dismantle the grain marketing agency's monopoly on wheat and barley.

In a letter to Measner received Wednesday and obtained by CBC News, Strahl wrote, "I am informing you that I am contemplating recommending a change to the membership appointed by the Governor-in-Council to the Canadian Wheat Board, notably a recommendation that your appointment as President be terminated."...

Deanna Allen, the wheat board's vice-president of farmer relations and public affairs, said the news of Meanser's firing has thrown the organization into turmoil.

"It's a very unsettling time for all staff, and you know, Adrian has had a career here that spanned 32 years," Allen said Thursday.

Allen described Meanser as "a man of tremendous integrity and a guy who's given service to the company, service to farmers for just so many years. And I think it's a hard thing to come to grips with."

Of course, it isn't the least bit surprising for the Cons to once again value ideological fealty over competence and experience. But if Strahl's plan is to try to bolster the anti-Board side by throwing the Board itself into chaos, he may want to keep in mind the possibility that farmers will recognize the problem isn't of the Board's making - and vote out the real responsible party instead.